Amid a flurry of renewed foreign-based mining activity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a South African technical team is about to hit the ground at Ruashi, near Lubumbashi, just north of the border with Zambia. Just a week ago, Tokyo Sexwale’s Mvelaphanda Holdings led a consortium that signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) to spend $100-m developing Ruashi, a world class copper cobalt deposit, and $10-m on initial work at the stalled Agbarabo and Kongocolo gold mines, long said to be the sweetest spots in the bigger Kilomoto concession, itself seen by many as the most coveted remaining gold province in the world.
The lightning move by Mvelaphanda Holdings ups the stakes in what has long been rated as one of the most richly endowed African countries. The DRC, however, has been capital-starved for decades, and more so since mid-May, 1997, when Laurent Désiré Kabila and his troops invaded Kinshasa from the east. The resulting war still simmers in some remote eastern regions of the country, but the Kinshasa government under president Joseph Kabila has recently won major support from the likes of the World Bank.
The technical team represents the interests of Mvelaphanda Holdings and the Afrimineral Holdings Group, and is headed by chairman of the latter, Zwelakhe Sisulu. The arrival of the team in Kinshasa will fuel investor interest at other major projects, such as Tenke Fungurume, the biggest undeveloped copper cobalt deposits in the world, AMF’s Kolwezi, and Banro’s Sominki Concession. Some mining operations were hardly affected by the war, such as those managed by Anvil, First Quantum, and Scories du Terril de Lubumbashi.
In a statement today, the Mvelaphanda Holdings MOUs appear to have acquired heightened status, and are referred to as a “joint venture agreement with the DRC government,” following “the acquisition by a consortium of South African companies – led by Mvelaphanda . . . “
Last week Mvelaphanda Holdings CEO Mark Wilcox told Moneyweb that the deals were part of a “broader package of assets in the DRC.” If the Johannesburg-listed empowerment group Mvelaphanda Resources (managed and controlled by Mvelaphanda Holdings) was keen to participate in Kilomoto, it could buy the assets from Mvelaphanda Holdings for the price it had paid. “The board of Mvelaphanda Resources is developing specifically a precious metals and minerals company. If it wants the DRC assets, these will be made available at the same cost paid by Holdings,” said Willcox. The assets would add to Mvelaphanda’s current portfolio, which includes a 22,5% stake in Northam Platinum, a 25% stake in Trans Hex Diamonds and before long, a 15% stake in Gold Fields’ South African assets. Trans Hex was notably the first South African company to break serious ground in the new diamond rush enveloping Angola.
